Duluth.

Charlie and I took the most fantastic day-trip yesterday. a while back, we heard about this "tall ships" festival in Duluth, and marked the weekend off on our calendar as the weekend we would travel up north.

Here's Charlie at the start of the drive telling his parents it was 60 degrees and raining! (We didn't know it was going to rain).

In my long-sleeves and scarf! It was probably the coldest July day I'll ever experience. 

Here we are just north of Duluth on Lake Superior 

That's where Duluth is. That star that is at the very tip of Lake Superior.

We had a great trip. Charlie was really excited because Lake Superior looks just like an ocean!

We continued up through the rain to Gooseberry falls, which is on the north shore of the lake. It was raining pretty hard when we got there, but there were TONS of cars and people--we were surprised we weren't the only people there! But everyone looked determined to see the falls!

We picnicked in our car, and then headed out in the rain ourselves. It was just beautiful.

We hiked below the falls and went on every little trail we could find around them. Charlie looked for crawfish (of course) but only came up with a frog. I hoped to see a porcupine, but no such luck. Apparently, they're the number one danger to dogs out there. Those and wolves!

So after our fun time there, we headed back toward Duluth. We stopped in a little town called Two Harbors and stopped in a couple of gift-shoppy places. I got a cafe au lait and some no-sugar-added-blueberry spread. It's pretty good!

When we got back to Duluth, we took a drive around for a bit. There's this huge hill that butts-up to the lake. Charlie and I were a little more than baffled at how anyone gets around in the winter, but then again, we aren't Minnesotans. It was a gorgeous view. Since we had decided we were having enough fun without the tall ships, it was fun to see them from way above the lake.

The wind was blowing 100 mph and it was COLD and raining! 

We eventually found a place to park, and walked into town and looked around at shops--Charlie even got some smoked white fish! I don't think he's tried it yet... Oh. And we played a game of checkers in a toy store. Charlie let me win. I think he was bored. :)

We finished off the day eating at a place that was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It looked very Diner-ish to us when we pulled up, but it was local and organic food with gluten free and vegan options. I has smoked salmon (yum!) and Charlie finally got to try hash! We were stuffed and pleased.

I know every relationship is different and there isn't a "right" way... but I sure love that Charlie and I are best friends and can just enjoy hanging out together like we did yesterday. It was fun, refreshing, and memorable. I just love him.


Oh. And we only have 29 days left. (omg!)